Ahmedabad: Vaibhav Sooryavanshi was in tears two nights ago as his dream of playing an IPL final lay in tatters at the Mullanpur stadium in New Chandigarh. Despite his brilliant 96 in Qualifier 2, Rajasthan Royals were beaten by Gujarat Titans (GT).
On Sunday, the 15-year-old boy wonder was among a crowd of 110,000 at the Narendra Modi Stadium to watch Royal Challengers Bengaluru (RCB) take on GT in the biggest match of the season.
But it was not all disappointment for Vaibhav after he emerged as the youngest winner of the Orange Cap with a tally of 776 runs at a mind-boggling strike rate of 237.30!
Two others – GT captain Shubman Gill and his fellow-opener Sai Sudharsan – were in contention to top the batting charts in IPL 2026.
Gill was on 722 and Sudharsan on 710 going into the final, but both fell cheaply. Gill was dismissed for 10 and thus ended on 732, while Sudharsan managed 12 to finish with 722.
Their joint failure hurt GT, with the home team being restricted to 155/8 by RCB bowlers in 20 overs.
Vaibhav is also set to be the Most Valuable Player (MVP) of IPL 2026. The kid from Bihar has a Total Impact figure of 1012.2, way ahead of second-placed Kagiso Rabada (782.9). GT’s South African pacer will need a miraculous effort to surpass Vaibhav.
Just how amazing a talent Vaibhav is, can be gauged from the fact that he is just 15 years and 65 days old, while Sudharshan, previous youngest Orange Cap winner was 23 years and 237 days when he achieved that feat last year.
Gill himself was 23 years and 263 days when he topped the batting charts in IPL 2023.
